If you’ve recently binged Maniac, you’re probably familiar with Jonah Hill the opera-going Long Island lemur-thief, Jonah Hill the scholarly 1940s Quixote fan, and Jonah Hill the ruiner of his brother’s bougie engagement dinners. Jonah has finally shaken off the “funny fat friend” typecast, after over decade of trying — even turning down a Transformers role as a chubby sidekick character named (no joke) Jonah. Cue thirsty tweets and style icon status.
But while the world no longer thinks of Jonah Hill as the kid from Superbad, Jonah Hill still does. The actor used those brutal teenage years as inspiration for his highly anticipated directorial debut, Mid90s — and for an incredibly sweet zine based on that same film. Created in collaboration with studio A24, INNER CHILDREN is an ode to the awkward kid inside us all, listening to hip-hop and trying to score the vodka with gold flakes in it. Jonah announced the zine in a heartfelt message on Instagram today.
“I became famous in my late teens and then spent most of my young adult life listening to people say I was fat and gross and unattractive,” he wrote. “It’s only in the last four years, writing and directing my movie Mid90s, that I’ve started to understand how much that hurt and got into my head.” The film stars Sunny Suljic as an outcast kid who desperately wants to be accepted by a community of older, cooler skaters.
For INNER CHILDREN, Jonah interviewed 12 admirable legends about their own experiences with self-doubt and self-love. They include (drumroll please) Raymond Pettibon, Kim Gordon, Mark Gonzales, Michael Cera, Q-Tip, Edie freakin’ Falco, and his own awesome sister Beanie Feldstein. “The interviews are centered around the question of, ‘What is that snapshot for you?’ Jonah wrote. “They turned into some of the most meaningful conversations I’ve ever had.”
Get a copy of INNER CHILDREN later this week and see Mid90s when it hits theaters October 19.